Frost School of Music Profiles

Gary M. Lindsay

What would you say are the outstanding highlights of your professional life?

1. Being nominated for a Grammy in jazz arranging for my work with Arturo Sandoval

2. Developing masters (Studio/Jazz Writing) and doctoral (Jazz Composition) programs in jazz composition and arranging at the Frost School of Music

3. Appearing as a guest jazz soloist with the Florida Philharmonic and Naples Philharmonic

4. Performing with, and writing for, the Miami Saxophone Quartet

5. Touring with Frank Sinatra

6. Receiving the Phillip and Patricia Frost Award for Excellence in Teaching and Scholarship

What advice would you give an aspiring young musician?

Three of the most essential tools for all musicians are:

* A highly developed ear

* Keyboard skills

* Composing and arranging skills

Part of your daily practice routine should include work on all of these skills. Fine-tuning your skills will enhance your overall musicianship, no matter what your major.

Talk about an outstanding performance that you recall.

Two of the most memorable performance experiences I have had occured in pit orchestras. The first was for a staged performance of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. The second performing the staged production of Bernstein’s West Side Story. Both experiences were challenging and fulfilling.

Career Highlights:

Jazz Arranging Techniques by Gary Lindsay is now the preferred text in more thirty colleges and universities around the world. In 2005 he was awarded a composer’s grant from Chamber Music America that was funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Professor Lindsay also received a National Endowment for the Arts award as well as a Grammy nomination in jazz arranging for “Cherokee” from Arturo Sandoval’s I Remember Clifford CD.

His composition Jazz Suite for Double Quartet was premiered by the Bergonzi String Quartet and the Miami Saxophone Quartet at 2006 Festival Miami.

Many of Gary’s students have distinguished themselves with prestigious awards:

* First place in the John Lennon Song Writing Competition (Scott Routenberg)

* winner of the IAJE Gil Evans Scholarship (Jesse Milliner)

In addition more than a dozen students have won Student Downbeat awards in jazz composition, arranging and music engineering. Other students have received scholarships to attend the Mancini Institute and the ASCAP Film and TV Scoring Workshop.

Professor Lindsay has been teaching at the University of Miami since 1980 and is the director of the Masters Degree Program, Studio/Jazz Writing and the Doctoral Degree Program, Jazz Composition. He composes, arranges, and performs with the Miami Saxophone Quartet and the South Florida Jazz Orchestra. Other writing includes jazz commissions and arranging for pop recordings.

Short Biography:

Grammy-nominated Gary Lindsay is professor and program director, Studio Jazz Writing, at the University of Miami Frost School of Music. Lindsay is an arranger, composer, performer, educator and author. He holds degrees in music from the University of Rhode Island and the University of Miami. As an arranger/composer, Gary has worked with Maynard Ferguson, Michael Brecker, Pat Metheny, Jose Feliciano, Gloria Estefan, Arturo Sandoval, The Florida Philharmonic, and The Airmen of Note, to name a few. In performances, Gary has appeared as a soloist with the Florida Philharmonic, Naples Philharmonic, and in pit orchestras for performances of “West Side Story,” “Porgy and Bess,” “The Music Man,” “The King and I,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” and more. He composes, arranges and performs with the Miami Saxophone Quartet. Gary has performed on woodwinds with Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Mike and Randy Brecker, Jaco Pastorius, Stanley Turrentine and many others. Gary Lindsay is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts award and received a Grammy nomination in arranging for “Cherokee” from Arturo Sandoval’s “I Remember Clifford” CD. Professor Lindsay has been teaching at the Frost School of Music since 1980.

"Learning the language of music through composition is like learning a foreign language and requires practice everyday. Write a new piece of music everyday (no matter how brief) and you will begin to understand the language of composers."
—Gary Lindsay